KHYMERANS (Chimerans)
'The Ultimate Soldiers' While robotics and drones had long proved their worth in battle, there was still a need and desire to make a better Soldier. Advances in Genengineering allowed one particularly brilliant and gifted Genengineer to create what the NATO (Later the United Nations Treaty Organization or UNTO) wanted in regards to 'the perfect soldiers'. Starting with a base of Optimimum Human DNA, very carefully selected and modified sequences from other terrestrial species were grafted in. Some from Feline species, some from Avian, some from Arachnids, and a carefully-selected few others. It was Art, on the genetic level, the DNA that would lead to Chimerans wasn't made so much as Crafted by a Master of the field. Thomaso Rothmahnn gave the United Nations Treaty Organization what they wanted...the Perfect Soldiers. And more. Chimerans came in 2 types; Male and Female, termed Ares and Artemis respectively. In every way, they were superior, physically, to Humanity but were left with mentalities that would ensure against loss of control over them. 30,000 were produced from artificial wombs, trained from 'birth' to be the apotheosis of Warriors and Warfighters. Artemis units were optimized for SpecWar and Covert Ops where the Ares units were meant for Frontline battlefield operations. Chimerans quickly proved their worth in dealing with Insurrections in the Colonies, so much so that it got to the point where all the UNTO had to do was mention that they were considering sending Chimerans in, and order by way of fear, was restored. 'Victims Of Their Own Success' Chimerans became the Bogeymen of interstellar power and force-projection, and parents began using them as scare-tales to scare children into behaving properly. Like SpecWar forces today, they became subjects of myth and speculation--and outrage. Deployments of Chimerans were tantamount to delivering a Nuclear Strike, however unlike Mass Destruction Weapons (MDWs) they could also exercise precise, surgical strikes that could target key elements in a revolutionary Colony's infrastructure, and instead of mass slaughter--force the population to beg to UNTO for aid. However, when deployed, they had the same concern for the Geneva Conventions and the Martian Accords as a MDW, as they were intended to be a Deterrent with horrific consequences if actually deployed. In time, after the Colonies had learned fearful respect, some in the UNTO began to question if they were needed anymore and a Disarmament Sentiment began only 20-odd years after their start of service. 'The 'Broken Arrow' War' For weapons that are alive and sentient, it's not too hard to make the distinction or similarity in the phrases; 'Kill you' and 'Decommission you'. UNTO's finest weapons weren't about to accept death just because such had been decreed and displayed a latent ability to 'override' some orders regarding their lives being risked or ended, something unseen in even previous Known '''suicide missions'. Then-Total Chimeran forces numbered just over 25,000, near evenly split between Ares and Artemis units, and they went on to wage the single most encompassing War in Human history, taking on the entirety of Humanity's Military Industrial complex and bringing Humanity to it's knees with un-nerving and terrifying swiftness and ruthlessness. The War raged full-out for just over a year, and saw Humanity lose nearly every single engagement as the Chimerans struck at-will, and vanished like ghosts. That, combined with an increasingly panicky population across many star systems and worlds, sabotaged infrastructure and catastrophes resulting from such took an immense toll on the UNTO financially, in troops, failing morale and massive civil disorder and collapse. Chimeran tactics weren't about gaining territory or any conventional goals, they were strictly about methodically crippling Humanity civilizationally while acquiring what they wanted and needed to escape Humanity. Rothmahnn, creator of the Chimerans, brokered a Peace between them and Humanity, and as part of that agreement would be that Chimeranity would leave Human space and pursue their own destiny as their own species, in Liberty. Rothmahnn, despite protests from UNTO bigwigs and leaders, left with his 'children' and left not a single trace of any of his work in the Human Stellarnet or anyplace else. Humanity, beaten, bloodied and hurting didn't interfere with Chimeran plans and preparations to leave, and nearly a year after the end of active hostilities three of the largest cargo freighters Jumped out of Sol system en-route to check out the first of a dozen candidate systems Rothmahnn had idetified as being excellent prospects for Chimeranity to establish themselves on. 'The Rothmahnn Legacy' What the Chimerans encountered in taming their new homeworld suited their Genengineering perfectly and Chimeranity began to slowly flourish and form their own distinct culture and civilization.Within 2 years Standard, the first children were born, owing to a slight bit of Genengineering revision work by Rothmahnn, a tailored retrovirus that activated the ability laying dormant in Chimeran DNA and locking it active so as to ensure it could never be undone. The retrovirus also activated another gene sequence allowing Chimeranity to have full access to their brain's abilities, allowing them to achieve levels of intelligence rivalling Humanity's easily and in the average bettering it. In an experiment, Rothmahnn subjected himself to a complex retrovirus coded specifically to his DNA alone, and remade himself into a Chimeran, going on to found the first University and a large family. 'The Dawn of Chimeranity''' Chimeranity quickly set about building the infrastructure for their civilization, and immediately departed from how Humans usually did things. Planning ahead for the future, sites for cities and housing were carefully chosen to avoid disrupting the Ecosystem any more than necessary as knowledge about how resilient it was nneded more time to grow. No fossil fuels, and indeed very few combustion-related systems were used and power was decentralized, the powergrid serving only to support areas that temporarily lost their generating ability until they made repairs. Mining was kept offworld, again for concern about damaging an ecosystsem that they were still learning about, and because of the space activity, the orbital stations were among the first things constructed as well as mining-ships. Robotic assistance was used extensively to magnify the efforts of the 20,000 odd Chimerans working to build a civilization. Initially, groups of Chimerans lived in communal Longhouses, constructed of local wood with slate roofing, but meticulously crafted, and with decorative carvings done on all the main timbers, done by talons as often as with knives. Dr. Rothmahnn and the few Humans who had begged to be allowed to come along for the once-in-a-lifetime chance to watch a Genengineered species built a civilization from scratch worked on researching the ecosystem and getting a better understanding of this new world. While the as-yet un-named new world had an agreeable climate and environment roughly the same as Earth's, there were definite differences that had to be taken into account. At 1.3365 times Earth's size, and having only slightly higher gravity (1.08 G) it possessed a more severe Seasonal Axial Tilt, and it's moon was also considerably larger and denser than Earth's creating markedly more severe Tidal Shifts and effects. With 70% of it's surface being water-covered, the exposed Land still covered more area than all of Earth's. Geological scans revealed little in the way of non-radiative heavy metals, and the vast majority of those were found in the planet's core. However, this was compensated for by the immense wealth found in the system's two large asteroid belts, the planet-sized moons of the gas giants and assorted free asteroids in solar orbits. Category:KHYMERANS (Chimerans)